DPS ENROLLMENT DROPS 19,000
DETROIT — Initial estimates show enrollment in Detroit Public
Schools is down about 19,000 students compared to the start of
the 2005-2006 school year, according to the Detroit Free Press.

An unofficial count puts DPS at 110,000 students. Count day,
which was held on Sept. 27, is part of a formula that determines
how much per-pupil funding is given to public school districts.
Detroit school administrators earlier said enrollment could have
been down by as much as 25,000 after a teachers strike delayed
the start of classes, the Free Press reported. The Detroit
Federation of Teachers union conducted an illegal 16-day strike,
denying instruction to students for several days.

Detroit schools used free food, gift certificates and other
prizes to entice students to attend school on count day,
according to the Free Press.

The state spends $7,459 for every student enrolled in DPS, the
Free Press reported. A drop in enrollment could mean school
closures and employee layoffs.

Cindy Lang, principal at Clark Elementary School, said she would
lose two staff members if enrollment remained low. As of last
week, 427 students were in class, down from 462 a year ago.

S.C.S. LAKEVIEW SETTLES CONTRACT
ST. CLAIR SHORES, Mich. — The St. Clair Shores Lakeview school
board voted 7-0 recently to approve a five-year contract that
gives teachers 3 percent raises per year and keeps in place less
costly health insurance, according to the St. Clair Shores
Sentinel.

The contract, which runs through the 2008-2009 school year, is
retroactive to 2004, when the previous one expired, the Sentinel
reported. Since that time, the Lakeview school board voted to
implement a Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO that the district
estimated was $500,000 a year less expensive than insurance
offered by the Michigan Education Special Services Association.
MESSA is a third-party administrator affiliated with the Michigan
Education Association union. MESSA acts as a middleman, and
repackages health insurance for school districts. The board in
2005 also voted to sign a competitive contract for custodial
work, worth another $500,000 in savings, according to the
Sentinel.

"I sincerely hope that much of the acrimony will fade and we can
channel all our efforts in the right direction," school board
Vice President Donald Wheaton said. "It's been a really tough
couple of years."

Wheaton and three other board members survived a recall effort
earlier this year.

"It is a big relief for all teachers to have this destructive
time come to an end, but we cannot forget what we have been
through," Jane Cassady, president of the Lakeview Teachers Union,
told the Sentinel.

The district and union met approximately three dozen times, for
more than 100 hours, in bargaining sessions, the Sentinel
reported. Contract talks included fact-finding, mediation, unfair
labor charges and court proceedings.

LEGISLATION ADDRESSES ILLEGAL TEACHER STRIKES
LANSING, Mich. — House Bill 6528, introduced last month, would
require school districts to immediately report teacher strikes to
the Michigan Employment Relations Commission, as well as give
parents authority to report a strike if a school board fails to
do so, according to
MichiganVotes.org.

Teachers cannot strike under Michigan law, and can face fines for
each day they fail to report for work, the Detroit Free Press
reported.

HB 6528 would shorten to seven days the time in which the MERC
can determine a strike is taking place, according to the Free
Press, and allow the commission to begin fining teachers. The
current window is 60 days.

Detroit Public Schools did not file the appropriate paperwork
with the MERC while the Detroit Federation of Teachers union
conducted an illegal strike in early September, according to the
Free Press.

Current law requires an individual hearing be held for each
striking teacher. The Free Press reported that none of Detroit's
7,000 teachers have been fined following two illegal strikes in
recent years.

"What this does is it gets the process moving faster so that kids
are getting their education," the bill's sponsor, Rep. Phil
Pavlov, R-St. Clair Township, told the Free Press. Pavlov also
said he thinks the Detroit strike would have been "wiped out very
early," had teachers been fined.

Detroit Federation of Teachers President Janna Garrison told the
Free Press, "Just because it's the law doesn't make it right,"
when asked if a new law would prevent future union strikes.

GULL LAKE TEACHERS CONTRACT HINGES ON INSURANCE
RICHLAND, Mich. — Teachers in the Gull Lake Community Schools
could receive 3.5 percent raises if they would agree to pay a
portion of their own health care costs, according to The Battle
Creek Enquirer.

"We're committed to getting staff salaries increased," Gull Lake
school board President Deb Ryan told The Enquirer. "We're looking
at different insurances that would allow us to save on insurance,
and those savings would be put in the salary increase."

The district wants to switch to a Health Savings Account through
Blue Cross Blue Shield. Teachers currently have health insurance
through the Michigan Education Special Services Association, a
third-party administrator affiliated with the Michigan Education
Association union.

"We're willing to make concessions (within the MESSA program) to
make this more feasible," Joyce Gibson, president of the Gull
Lake Education Association union, told The Enquirer. "A health
savings account is not an option."

PARENTS CONCERNED ABOUT PADDED ROOM
HOWELL, Mich. — A padded room that locks from the outside has
parents of special-needs students upset with the Livingston
Education Service Agency, according to The Detroit News.

The room, which measures 5 feet by 5 feet and has a peep hole,
was built inside the new $5 million Pathway School, which serves
about 100 students in Livingston's five public school districts.
Parents recently asked the LESA board to padlock or remove the
structure until policies can be developed and staff is trained,
The News reported.

A 13-member parent advisory committee was never told about the
room, even though they were shown plans for the new building and
given monthly construction updates, The News reported.

LESA Superintendent Sally Vaughn told The News the room would
only be used to calm students who pose a threat to themselves or
others, and only as part of a student's "individual education
plan," to which parents must agree.

The Michigan State Board of Education is reviewing the use of
such rooms statewide, according to The News.

OAKLAND COUNTY SCHOOLS SAVE MONEY WITH COMPETITIVE CONTRACTING
CLAWSON, Mich. — Several school districts in southern Oakland
County have been able to save money by signing competitive
contracts for food services and school principals, according to
the Royal Oak Mirror.

Jim Nolan, superintendent of Clawson schools, told the Mirror the
district saves about $70,000 a year by contracting for two
principal positions, and $6,000 a year with a contract for
cafeteria management.

"Every $1,000 we save, that's that much more we can put into the
school district," Nolan said.

The Royal Oak, Berkley and Ferndale school districts also
contract for food services, to varying degrees. Royal Oak, as
does Clawson, contracts for cafeteria management, while Berkley
and Ferndale contract for the entire operation.

MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST is a service of Michigan Education
Report (http://www.educationreport.org),
a quarterly newspaper
with a circulation of 150,000 published by the Mackinac Center
for Public Policy (http://www.mackinac.org),
a private,
nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational institute.